Friday, October 12, 2012

One of the biggest challenges faced by developers when developing apps for Android is the sheer number of devices they have to support for, not to mention half a dozen or so different Android versions that are still operational in the market. Different Android versions is not so much of a problem as different screen sizes and resolution. Developers use emulators to tackle this problem, but setting up one for each device is still too much. Now you don’t have to, because Manymo offers you a way to test your apps on different screen sizes, display resolutions and Android versions right in your browser.

Just hit the Manymo link and launch the virtual device of your choice. You’ll get a basic Android running in your browser in no time. If you want to test an app – your own app or somebody else’s – sign up for a free account and drag and drop the APK file into your browser. The APK file will be uploaded and automatically installed in the virtual device. Manymo also offers a command line tool to work with Eclipse, IntelliJ/IDE or SDK tools. This is a great way to try apps and how they adapt to different screen sizes without having to actually install it on a device.

At the time of this writing Manymo has 42 different variation of screen sizes and Android version. Keep in mind that Manymo’s emulators doesn't emulate an actual device with different hardware. For example, you won’t find a virtual Samsung Galaxy S3 or Google Nexus.

Although the company is targeting developers, you don’t have to be one to try it. For those who haven’t tried Android before, this is a nice way to try out the operating system. However, the slowness and immense lag between actions can be frustrating and a huge disappointment.